[ad_1]
The Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology has outlined its preliminary plans to save the 2020 academic year, while balancing student safety.
The government placed all post-school education institutions on recess early on March 15 after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the coronavirus pandemic a national disaster.
Presenting before parliament on Thursday (May 14), the department indicated that the academic year was highly dependent on the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic, with plans to end the year anywhere between January and April 2021.
To accommodate this, beginning June 1, all institutions will offer flexible, multimodal, and remote forms of teaching and learning, supported by approved resource plans.
He added that he plans to allow multiple students to return in a gradual approach based on the level of blocking:
- Level 4 – Strictly controlled staged return of final year undergraduates to programs requiring clinical training, beginning with MBChB (medicine) students beginning May 11, 2020;
- Level 3 and Level 2 – Progressive incorporation of groups of students (undergraduate and graduate) according to national criteria to guarantee controlled return, social distancing and other protocols to support the health and safety of students and staff. The final decision for the return of students in these categories will only take place once the National Command Council has taken into account all health and other necessary considerations;
- Level 1 – Complete return of all groups of students with social distancing and health protocols still in force. This includes 27 weeks of planned contact instruction to ensure the effective completion of the academic year and a fair chance of success for all students.
The department noted that a similar approach will be followed for TVET universities and other institutions of higher education, without allowing any student to return under Tier 4 restrictions (before early June).
Medicine students
The department’s filing comes after Minister Blade Nzimande issued a new directive which will allow some medical students to return to the university to complete their studies.
The directive, which was published on Wednesday (May 13), allows for the resumption of the academic year for senior medical students at South African public universities with effect from May 11, 2020.
It also allows for the one-time travel of senior medical students studying at public institutions of higher education to travel from their homes to the university campus where they are enrolled to study during the period of May 8 to 31, 2020.
Wit university He said the directive will require a limited opening of the Wits Junction residential complex and the Faculty of Health Sciences building, as well as the clinical training platform at various hospitals.
“The University has prepared for the return of 314 medical students in their final year from the MBBCh and GEMP programs. 91 students from this group will be accommodated at Wits Junction on a self-service basis.
“Another 142 medical students in the Mandela Castro program will also return to continue their clinical training in hospitals. These students will be housed, as usual, in the Witwaters Building and in various hospitals. “
The university said it has also introduced a series of health and safety measures to protect staff and students.
Read: Most of South Africa will move to Level 3 Block by the end of May: Ramaphosa
[ad_2]
